In many cases, the right gear is almost as important as the camera itself. The following overview can be seen as a short checklist. Not every piece of equipment is required by every photographer or in every situation.

In many cases, the right gear is almost as important as the camera itself. The following overview can be seen as a short checklist. Not every piece of equipment is required by every photographer or in every situation.

Make sure you have suitable receptacles for your camera. Here it also depends on the situation as to which is the optimal choice.

Various types (lens case, backpack, case, zoom bag…) Decide which features could be relevant?

Dust proof?

Water proof?

Compact?

Large enough?

Gear that is easy to obtain?

Shock resistance?

Inconspicuous?

...

Data transmission

Both USB cables and card readers don’t weigh much and can be very useful for traveling

Tripod

Tripods are especially important in poor lighting conditions

Differentiate between monopod and tripod

Both of them come in various shapes and sizes

Which features could be relevant, i.e., of interest?

Stability

Height

Size

Weight

The monopod is well suited in situations where the image section changes rapidly, however; it is not suitable for night images and is not an optimal solution.

The tripod is especially good for stationary image subjects and in poor lighting conditions. There is an immense array of different types of tripods and monopods. As well as stability, height, size and weight, the tripod head is also important. We mainly differentiate between 3D pan tilts and ball heads. The 3D pan tilt has the upper hand in architectural or panoramic images due to the fact that the horizontal and vertical tilt of the camera can be set independently. If the main focus is on fast camera positioning, then the ball head has the upper hand.

The actual mounting of the camera is not to be overlooked. For this purpose, removable disks are useful. When buying a tripod, you should ensure that removable disks are available individually (important in case of loss and when using more than one camera at a time).

Remote shutter release

The best tripod or monopod is useless if the camera shakes due to the shutter release being pressed.

We differentiate between cable remote shutter releases and radio or infra-red shutter releases

Spirit level Angle finder

optical angle finder

digital LCD monitor to attach and swivel

Interchangeable focusing screens

Focusing screens with grids

Focusing screens with split image

Camera maintenance and care

Cleaning sensors on SLR cameras

Compressed air

Brush (only to be used to clean sensor!)

Bellows

Cotton bud (combined with a microfiber cloth - only to be used to clean sensor!)

SpeckGRABBER (only to be used to clean sensor!)

Cleaning the lens

Microfiber cloth (can be washed)

Optic cleaning tissue (is usually only used once – is therefore always clean)